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Home , Luke 1, Luke 12, Luke 23, Luke 6, Luke 7, Sermon on the Plain

HAS VISITED HIS PEOPLE

(:16)

READING LUKE IN THE HOLY LAND

Sermon on the Plain READING LUKE IN THE HOLY LAND

1. Introduction

2. Preaching in

3. on the Plain

4.

5. Transfiguration

6. Cross

7. SEQUENCE • ? On the Plain? • Kind of writing • • background • Beatitudes in Luke • Commentary • Message • Prayer • Conversation MOUNT OR PLAIN?

• -7: Sermon on the Mount

• :17-49:

• The Beatitudes are in both, though in different ways MOUNT OR PLAIN?

• Luke has shaped the Sermon on the Plain (6:17-49) into three sections, actually followed by the lectionary:

• Luke 6:20-26 (6C19), vv. 27-38 (7C19) and vv 39-49 (8C19); the excerpt in the lectionary is vv. 39-45).

• Each section is indicated by Luke (vv. 20a, 27a and 39a).

• Finally, in this , the beatitudes can be read Christologically: himself is poor (8:1-3, 9:58), he hungers (4:2; 24:41[!]), he weeps (19:41), he is despised and rejected (22:54, 63–64; 23:35–38, 39). MOUNTAIN OR PLAIN?

L Mark Q M The Sower Beatitudes

Prodigal son Magi

Luke Matthew BEATITUDES • The Beatitudes are probably • Luke, however, leaves the more familiar in the Matthew material dispersed version, where he offers a throughout the ministry and rather longer list. offers the beatitudes during the Sermon on the Plain • Both Matthew and Luke (6:17). drew on a Sayings Source (Q) of some 252 verses. • Nevertheless, the beatitudes function also here as an • They use the material introduction to the Great differently—Matthew gathers Sermon, 6:17-49. The reader some of the material into the will notice that Luke has Sermon on the Mount, using corresponding woes as well his eight or nine beatitudes as beatitudes. as an introduction. KIND OF WRITING • In form, we have here beatitudes and woes, reflecting a Wisdom outlook.

• In content, we have the reversal of present conditions, reflecting an Apocalyptic outlook.

• It is probable that Luke has preserved the more original content of the beatitudes and Matthew the more original third-person format. POSSIBLE Q FORM Blessed are the poor, for of them is the kingdom of God. Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the mourners, for they shall be consoled.

Woe to the rich, for they have received consolation. Woe to the satisfied, for they will be hungry Woe to the consoled, for they will mourn. OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

• Beatitudes in general belong to the Wisdom strands of the Old Testament, reflecting popular experience of what “works” to make a person happy (Ps 1:1, 41:1; Prov 14:21; Sir 31:8).

• As such, OT beatitudes offer praise of a secular happiness, referring to earthly goods (e.g. 4 Macc 18:9). These seldom point beyond the present situation and only rarely does one find a reference to a future, messianic event (so perhaps in the messianic interpretation of Is 31:9).

• Often, these passages have a moralising function (e.g. Prov 3:13; Sir 14:1; 25:8; 26:1) and they can be quite platitudinous. OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

• Of the more than forty beatitudes in the OT, twenty-five appear in and ten in wisdom literature (Job 5:17; Prov 3:13; 8:32, 34; 14:21; 16:20b; 20:7; 28:14; 29:18b; Eccl 10:17).

• The rest appear in “historical” and prophetic writings (Deut 33:29; 1 Kgs 10:8; Isa 30:18; 32:20; 56:2; Dan 12:12). OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND • In the world of Jewish apocalyptic, however, beatitudes express a hope for end-time reversal and eternal bliss (Dan 12:12; Tob 13:14).

• 4Q196 f18:3 [(Tobit 13:14) Blessed are] all who you, and blesse[d are all who rejoice in yo]ur [welfare.] 4 [Blessed are all people who grieve with you beca]use of [al]l your afflictions; fo[r they will rejoice with you and see all your glory forever.

• 4Q163 f23ii:9 to have on you, for is a God of justice. How happy are all who wait for him” (Isaiah 30:15–18).

• For example: Blessed be they that shall be in those days, in that they shall see the good fortune of Israel which God shall bring to pass in the gathering together of the tribes (Psalms of 17.50)

• Blessed are you righteous and elect ones; for glorious will be your lot (1 Enoch 58:2). OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

• Ps_Sol. 4:23 Blessed are they that fear the Lord in their flawlessness. The Lord will deliver them from guileful men and sinners, and deliver us from every stumbling-block of the lawless (men).

• Ps_Sol. 6:1 Happy is the man whose heart is fixed to call upon the name of the Lord. When he remembers the name of the Lord, he will be saved.

• Ps_Sol. 17:44 Blessed be they that will be in those days, in that they will see the good fortune of Israel, in the gathering together of the tribes, which God will do.

• Ps_Sol. 18:6 Blessed will they be that will be in those days, in that they will see the goodness of the Lord that he will perform for the generation that is to come.

• 2Enoch 66:7 How happy are the righteous who shall escape the LORD’s great judgment; for they will be made to shine seven times brighter than the sun. FOREGROUND • Thirty of the forty-four NT • Blessed are those slaves whom the beatitudes appear in three master finds alert when he comes; with fifteen in Luke, thirteen in truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt Matthew, two in John, and none in and have them sit down to eat, and Mark. he will come and serve them. (:37) • Revelation employs seven beatitudes. • One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is • The remaining seven appear in anyone who will eat bread in the Romans, James, and 1 Peter. kingdom of God!” (:15)

• And blessed is she who believed • For the days are surely coming that there would be a fulfilment of when they will say, ‘Blessed are the what was spoken to her by the barren, and the wombs that never Lord.” (:45) bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ (:29) • But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 1:45; 11:28) COMMENTARY Luke 6:17 Then he came • In the immediately down with them and preceding scene, Jesus calls the Twelve, having just spent stood on a level place. a night praying on a And a large number of his mountain. disciples had gathered • Like , Jesus comes along with a vast down the mountain to multitude from all over address the people, represented in three groups, , from , the apostles, the disciples and from the seacoast of and the multitude. Tyre and . They • In the contemporary idiom, came to hear him and to Jesus meets people where be healed of their “they are at.” diseases, COMMENTARY Luke 6:18 and those who • Jesus is shown as a prophet in word and deed. Healings and suffered from unclean exorcisms are signs of the spirits were cured. 19 The Kingdom. whole crowd was trying to • Touch: Then Jesus stretched touch him, because power out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do choose. Be made was coming out from him clean.” (5:13) and healing them all. • Power: One day, while he was teaching, and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. (5:17) COMMENTARY Luke 6:20 Then he • In the setting of Luke-Acts, looked up at his disciples this means the materially and said: impoverished, the is the victims of social and “Blessed are you who are economic oppression, even poor, for the kingdom of though a spiritual frame God belongs to you. cannot be excluded. • E.g. e.g., 14:13, 21; 16:20, 22; 21:2, 3. • The promise of the kingdom is both a present and a future reality: 11:20; 16:16; 17:21. COMMENTARY Luke 6:21 “Blessed are • The next two beatitudes spell you who hunger now, for out the experience of poverty. • First of all, hunger, lack of you will be satisfied. food. And then, loss of significant people in your life leading to lack of support, isolation. • Hunger: in this beatitude, Luke has bodily hunger in view: 11:20; 16:16; 17:21. • The use of the passive voice indicates God as the one who will fill them. Cf. Isa. 49:9–10; 65:13; Ezek. 34:29; Ps. 17:14. COMMENTARY Luke 6:21 “Blessed are • Weeping: Luke has you who weep now, for “weeping” instead of you will laugh. Matthew’s “mourning.” • Weeping belong to the typical language of Luke, occurring some 25 times. • The turning of tears to joy is part of the vision of the end time: Isa. 49:9–10; 65:13; Ezek. 34:29; Ps. 17:14. COMMENTARY Luke 6:22 “Blessed are • This beatitude—an addition— reflects the later time of the you when people hate church, when followers of you, and when they Jesus were harassed. exclude you and insult you • It also reflects the experience and reject you as evil on of exclusion from the synagogue. This is most likely account of the Son of not a formal exclusion but a Man! practical one. • Cf. That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and . (Acts 8:1) COMMENTARY Luke 6:23 Rejoice in that • Joy is a major theme of day, and jump for joy, Luke (12-3-20-18). because your reward is • Leaping for joy is great in heaven. For their mentioned also in birth narrative: When Elizabeth ancestors did the same heard Mary’s greeting, the things to the prophets. child leaped in her womb. (Luke 1:41); For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke 1:44). COMMENTARY Luke 6:24 “But woe to you • The woes—which may to back who are rich, for you have to Q and Jesus himself— received your comfort already. express the mirror opposite of the beatitudes. As such, they 25 “Woe to you who are make for uncomfortable well satisfied with food now, reading. for you will be hungry. • Apart from the severe warnings “Woe to you who laugh therein, the woes take us back now, for you will mourn and to the Magnificat and the weep. sermon in Nazareth in Luke’s 26 “Woe to you when all version. people speak well of you, for • Heard deeply, the beatitudes their ancestors did the same and the woes underline the Jubilee reversal of conditions, things to the false prophets. very much are the heart of the Lucan programme. PRAYER

O God, who alone can satisfy our deepest hungers, protect us from the lure of wealth and power; move our hearts to seek first your kingdom, that ours may be the security and joy of those who place their trust in you.

We make our prayer through your Son, Jesus , who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. CONVERSATION